The Apparition
by Lady Cerulean
Summary: When Akatsuki takes on a new recruit its a matter of life and death. Then you have to survive partnership with another S-Class criminal. Sayuri is placed into the whirlwind as things take a turn she didn't anticipate. Lots of akatsuki action. Itachi/Oc


This is my first Naruto fanfic. This is based around the Shippuden stage so Itachi is 20 and Kisame is 32. I am learning how to write these characters so please do not bash me about if they are OOC if you have pointers do so gently don't tare to shreds. And if any of you want to beta for me I'd love that. And warning I messed up on the four tails beast but I'm not going to fix it because it is not crucial. You will later learn about Sayuri's bloodline limit so do not bash her saying that being able to contain the chakra of the beast is impossible. Just bear with me and you will learn.

Also rated M for future smut

* * *

The Apparition

_Tell me what_

_Do you want from me?_

_Set me free_

_Chapter One~ Nonexistent_

What's it mean to fully disappear? To fully be nonexistent? Does it mean that when you walk along the countryside that not even the trail you tread will remember you? Is it like walking in a surreal nightmare where even you feel like you have become nothing but a phantom in the place you called home…if you could ever say you had a home. Will they remember you? With that midnight blue hair and icy gaze you would imagine that you would be unforgettable. Not even to mention that in the nineteen years of life that you had done things for the better for your village…for your country. All it takes is one mistake and its all gone…they all hate you and you hate yourself. There is never a moment anymore that your miserable life could be anything but nonexistent.

Was this my destiny? To walk the world alone and scorned? To never have a place to call home or someone to call your own? Could anyone ever love a screw up like me? Am I even capable of loving anyone anymore? I don't trust anyone anymore and I daresay it would take a person that understood me inside and out…someone that didn't see me for the things I had done wrong even if it had been a misleading little snippet of a man that had set you up for failure. No one knows me anymore, my name and clan are all but gone I am the only one that remains of my people. I carry the burden knowing I was used to bring that demise…I was used and manipulated by someone I trusted and now even they turned their back on me. No one trusts a girl with an abnormal limit like me or carries the talents I carry. Or is it more like a curse instead? Has fate been so cruel to twist my happy and perfect life into a nightmare where not even the worst of the worst would consider taking me under their wing?

So many questions and no answers at all. Maybe what happened to me was for the better…maybe it will bring to the one person who I can fully trust and know. But who knows yeah? No one does and so I walk alone making my own way in this barren and cold world of a missing nin. The Bingo Books and Bounty Hunter catalogs are my personal reading material I make a living of death, capture, and bringing about things on the good and the self righteous. They turned their backs on me…that was a mistake. The nonexistent path I had been set to lead will not be what I chose. I will make my own name and my own way, everyone will hunt me but they will never find me. I will be a phantom and a nightmare to those that unjustly accused me of the demolition of a clan that I was only used as a tool to destroy. They will all perish one by one and I shall survive…I shall stand over their graves in silence mourning not for their souls but mourning for the souls they demolished through me.

I will find a way to bring about the end of all that they knew even the feared criminals would not want to team with me. Then again I may be wrong for I am not the only one out there that has dealt with things of equal or greater tragedy than I. Secrets are my life…shadows are my realm…death is my companion. The Land of Water is to my back and the world is to my front, bring me that horizon…bring me that challenge and I will survive.

* * *

The dirt and rocks crunched in an even rhythm as the lone shinobi walked along the silent dirt road that wound its way through the plains of the Earth Country. Only tall grass lined the roads offering no shade to the brutal sun that shone down from the sky relentlessly. But the grass did provide the perfect place to hide if one was pursuing someone that had been following you for the past two days. Now it was time to find out who they were and why they were following her.

Itoh Sayuri was well concealed as she crept along following the absently humming missing nin from her home village. His distinct features where that he was blue from head to toe, he had sharp razor teeth like that of a shark and his eyes were beady and silver pools. He wore a long, heavy black coat with red clouds on it obviously from the Akatsuki affiliation. But that wasn't what she had recognized him for it was the huge sword he carried on his back-Samehada to be exact. He was Hoshigaki Kisame of the Hidden Mist village. How she knew him is none of your concern but it was a long time ago that they had laid eyes on the other-thirteen years to be more accurate.

The question though was why had he been following her for the past two days? Currently he was following the traces her water clone left behind, a scent here a footprint there, while she had fallen behind and started to follow him. Well she was going to find out soon enough she was sure that even by now he knew that the clone up ahead was indeed a clone and she was sure that even though her chakra was masked he could sense it for he was far more superior to her given the amount of years he had to her. Yes soon enough she would find out and it would either be her undoing or not.

Hoshigaki Kisame walked along the dirt road, his head bent to watch the ground and his nose flaring every now and then. The blue shark nin was tracking but mostly in the bored and not "dedicated to finding the target" way. He knew he was following a water clone of his target Itoh Sayuri, but at the moment he felt slightly lazy and didn't wish to turn and confront her. He had no reason to suspect a fight she was a complacent girl…a lot like his partner from what he had heard, she didn't like to battle unless it was inevitable.

But anyways... he would confront her when he was tired of playing follow the leader.

Mainly his mind was else were as he followed the small drip path of the clone in front of him. He couldn't remember how many years it had been since he'd seen the girl... Sayuri. All those years ago when he was still loyal to Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist. Back in the day when he'd been a member of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist... that was so long ago. Now he was one of the oldest members in Akatsuki... not in age ... but in years of membership.

He shifted the weight of his large sword, Samehade, from his left shoulder to his right. He noticed that up ahead the clone had simply disappeared, and he smirked. Turning around he faced the way he'd come from and spoke out in a loud voice.

"Hey... kid... if you remember me my name is Hoshigaki Kisame... I wish to speak with you on a front of peace. I have a proposal you will be interested in" he said with an even face though his lips were held in a constant confident curl of a smirk…it was habit because of his confidence in himself…and arrogance maybe.

Ten more minutes passed and Sayuri finally let the jutsu release into a puddle of water up ahead. She grinned wryly when he turned around and address the seemingly unoccupied plain. He really had aged a bit since she last saw him thirteen years ago, his face was more deeply defined with years of experience and travel, he was taller and broader, obviously having gained more body mass from a gangly youth he was now a grown man. Well he wasn't the only one that had changed; she was no longer a small and delicate little girl of six helping her father in the smithy, creating swords of legendary abilities.

"Yeah I remember you," she said evenly jumping evenly out of the tall grass and onto the path. "Its rather hard to forget a face like yours or that particular sword you carry," she said evenly her face even and stone like though any emotion laid in her eyes only by a light sparkle…it was hard to tell if it held a cheerful gleam or a gleam that had a lust for a fight. "It's been too long a time since the last meeting…I hope Samehade has faired well enough," she said with stoic indifference not addressing his comment about a proposal just yet, she highly doubted it was something to terribly interesting. If she figured correctly the only reason him and his partner had trailed her for a few days without relent she could assume it had something to do with the affiliation he was in. Not to mention she possessed a certain four tailed-beast held in one of her many special talents.

Kisame gave a small grunt and nod of his head, she had indeed changed. And from the looks of it... quite a bit and not to worse for the wear. At least from the outside... she sounded a bit cold though. Something about Sayuri had a cold edge.

He patted the bandaged blade of Samehade and nodded "It has faired most excellently these past years. Looks a lot like it did back then too." he pointed to himself with his thumb "But as life goes the years have taken their toll on the both of us." He said simply.

Kisame shifted his weight to his left leg and crossed his arms. "You've changed kid..." he said a smirk widening "your not a little whelp anymore you've developed into a full woman and I'm sure many other things have developed as well," his eyes didn't dare stray from her face to survey her closely now but he knew that she had all the womanly graces and attractions the Itoh Clan had been known for…not to mention fairly pleasant curves.

She brushed her hand back into a wall of deep blue hair and pushed it back so it fell behind her to her mid back, her long forelock remained rebellious over her face obscuring her soft yet angular features. Her deep-set eyes took in the full view of her former acquaintance…well more like a friend.

"Years change many things physical appearance being one of them along with level of intelligence and talent…you could say I out grew my old life and now have nearly out grown that of a loner," she said evenly taking a few steps forward.

"I see you've done fairly well these past years…an Akatsuki now? I guess I'm not too terribly surprised. Though I do wonder why you have been tailing me the past three days. I know I'm in every bingo book from here to Snow Country and in every bounty hunter catalog…but you don't take me for hunting missing nin's siring from the same village." She said absently picking dirt from her glove on her right hand. "Or is it something else?" she asked a tone of curiosity getting the best of her. She was truly curious about the previously mentioned proposal.

"You said you had a proposal of interest to me…what is it?" she asked her eyes scrutinizing his silver depths for any sign of trickery. "And where is your partner…the man that was with you…I don't sense his chakra like I have the past three days," she added all her senses on alert incase it was an ambush of some sort to take the trapped beast from her.

Kisame raised an eyebrow noting the scrutiny and distrust in her eyes…she was an observant kunoichi, he'd give her that much. "Neither can be discussed out in the open like this" he said evenly resting his hand on her shoulder, something he'd done often when with her in her younger years, she still looked up at him with the same caution she always had. "The next village is where he is at, that's where we will discuss the proposal and go from there…understood?" he said his eyes narrowing as hers turned into slits of suspicion.

She really had changed…he wondered exactly what though.

"Fine I will go with you but if it proves to be a waist of my time I will be displeased and that could prove unpleasant," she said evenly.

Kisame nodded and motioned for her to follow as he took off at a run, she followed quickly sending chakra to her legs to help her run faster. As she ran a few feet behind Kisame her mind wandered to the scroll in her pocket and the current seal on her hand. She wondered if it was coincidence really her plan to join Akatsuki was so far a success maybe after hearing this proposal she could give her own. She no longer wanted to wander alone without a set purpose. She wanted somewhere to belong in the world and if it meant teaming up with Akatsuki she would. That was why she had captured the four tails and sealed it in her bloodline limit until she could draw its chakra back out. It was one they had been after for a while because she had monitored their movement. They had the first three and she assumed that since she had the fourth in her control they would either come to her or she would go to them. It appeared they may have come to her and she hoped that was the case.

* * *

_"Give yourself up and I will end your suffering with the beast." Sayuri's voice said calmly as the boy not much older than herself knelt in a burned and gasping heap not too far in front of her._

"_I…I don't w-want to d…die" he gasped trying to refrain from letting the creature inside him take control with his chakra now depleted greatly from having an unnecessary fight with her._

_She looked on him coolly her expression hard and emotionlessly indifferent. She had next to no marks on her since this mere boy was not a ninja. From the looks of it he kept to himself a want for peace vibrated from his body. "You will not die with my technique…but with Akatsuki you would. Which would you prefer? Life…or Death?" her voice was heavy and collected with no emotion for there was nothing for her to care about. _

_It wasn't that she wanted to spare his life it was just the way of her technique…one of the many of her bloodline limit. So in the end both of them came out ahead him with his life and her with her prize._

"_How c-can I believe you?" his black eyes looked up at her through a thin veil of black bangs._

_She shrugged "You can't." she said shortly "but its up to you to decide on if you want to believe me and be free of the beast and live…or eventually be captured by ruthless warriors who will kill you."_

_He sighed heavily and hung his head "T-take it" he whispered before he became unconscious._

* * *

What would have taken three days of travel took only five hours of chakra aided running at top speed. It was early nightfall when they walked through the gate to the small village. Sayuri looked around the quite and quaint little village. The streets where strung with paper lanterns as some of the stalls and restraints where still in business. They cast a warm welcoming glow on the people below as they went about their nighttime business. Some men dressed in the traditional Japanese garb of the upper class walked by laughing jubilantly. A few cast appraising glances at her but if it bothered her or she noticed she didn't show it, her face was a perfect mask of emotionless indifference.

Kisame led her through the winding streets out of the busy part of the village into the quiet yet active nighttime fancies. Women dressed in revealing kimonos laced heavily with makeup and headache-educing perfumes wandered the streets approaching the approachable men that came here for a one-night stand. A couple approached Kisame but where sent away with a 'not tonight' and a wink. He still liked the women it seemed or at least he played to it. One even tried to approach her, which she quickly cut down with a hard glare. It made her sick at the thought.

Eventually they came to an inn that was set off away from the brothels and roach hotels. This one actually looked decent considering it was chosen for its lack of attention. They were greeted by an older woman with pepper hair and wrinkles that made her look like she was continuously smiling.

"Good evening Mr. Hoshigaki" she said pleasantly to Kisame as they walked in. "Is this the person you said would be joining you during your stay?" she asked looking at Sayuri.

Kisame nodded "Yes this is Sayuri-chan she will be staying the night at the shortest," he said evenly.

The old woman nodded with a smile and took a key off the wall offering it to her. "Her dear it's the key to room 202," she said as Sayuri took it with a grateful bend at the waist.

"Thank you obasan" she said softly and turned to follow Kisame as he headed up a flight of stairs.

He stopped at room 203 and she looked around seeing her room across the hall, leave it to Akatsuki to have things planned. "Clean up and then knock on the door," he said over his shoulder "We will be waiting for you." He said before walking into the room.

She caught sight of what she assumed to be his partner before she turned to unlock her room. She sighed heavily switching the light on to be greeted by a cozy room with a small living area, off to the side through a sliding doorway was a bedroom with a full bed and then a small bathroom. She had to give them points for not taking up crappy boarding maybe she would get a goods night sleep for a change if everything went well.

She wandered into the bedroom sliding her traveling cloak off and the removing her small traveling pack draping the cloak on a chair and setting the pack beside it. She knelt down and removed some scrolls, weapon holsters and other things to get to her extra change of clothes. They were less worn than her current set, just a simple black shirt and a skirt that went to an inch above her knees. She set out her other things she would use from her brush to the charcoal she always placed around her eyes…it was like a barrier hiding what she looked like without it.

After that she went about the usual routine of showering. Letting the warm water loosen the tension in her muscles made her nerves and slight paranoia disappear. It felt so good to just pause long enough to do something as simple as indulging in a shower. But she didn't take long once she finished her shower quickly she dressed and brushed her wet hair out into deep blue almost black strands, and then applied the charcoal to her eyes. She strapped her belt about her waist that held a total of four holsters and then walked across the hall to knock on the door.

When the door opened she was greeted by a young man that couldn't be a year older than her. He was about a head taller than herself but also shorter than Kisame, his long raven black hair was pulled back into a ponytail while part of his bangs draped into his face. He wore a black t-shirt with a fishnet shirt over it and black jeans with white leg guards that hooked under his boots. But his most unique feature where his eyes. They were red with a pinwheel design around the iris. The Mangekyo Sharingan…she had seen it once before a very long time ago but they weren't his eyes.

In the brief moment when he opened the door that she appraised him she took in his emotionless, indifferent demenor. But she could tell in that brief moment he accesed her as well. She wasn't one to not give thought to what type of an apponent a person may be and this man before her would be one to reckon with. After a moment he stepped aside as Kisame walked into the room topless looking at ease and comfortable. Obviously he doubted that the topic of discusion with her wouldn't be dangerious otherwise he would be fully clothed and have Samehada by his side.

All three regarded eachother silently, both of them had their eyes intently set on her while her own went from one to the other with calm, collected eyes. Not entirely emotionless but barred to prying eyes.

"Itoh Sayuri this is my partner Uchiha Itachi," Kisame said formally which surprised Sayuri he had always been the informal type…this must have be a great responsibility if he was so formal. She gave a nod of acknowledgement as Itachi did so faintly before going to a single chair and sitting down as she took a seat on the sofa while Kisame took the loveseat.

"Sake?" he asked reaching for a bottle on the coffee table. She shook her head "No I don't muddle my mind when I'm found in such a situation…I hope you understand Kisame-sama" she said evenly seeing a smirk crack on his lips. "Now I believe there was a reason for your tracking me and requesting to speak to me in private?" she said taking them directly to the source of the gathering.

He nodded looking to Itachi who simply tilted his head as if giving the okay signal for Kisame to continue. She found it odd that someone of more seniority like Kisame would take instruction from someone much younger…there must be some different bond between the two for Kisame to act that way.

She looked back to Kisame who sighed "Akatsuki is extending a formal invitation for you to join its ranks as a member. Leader-sama has ordered it to be such," he said looking at her with an unreadable expression.

Sayuri raised an eyebrow questioningly and surprised, she would agree of course but she had questions to ask before committing. "I can't say I'm surprised I anticipated Akatsuki to seek me out after I acquired the four tails," she mused. "But I'm curious if I do not accept what is your ordered plan of action?"

Kisame looked at her for a moment before he grinned and started chuckling. "My your inquisitive Sayuri-san," he said scratching his chin. "Well in answer to your question we would have to take you to HQ anyway and extract the creature from you and that will in the end kill you," he said it plainly. "I would advise accepting though," he added.

She nodded faintly leaning back crossing her arms over her chest, the cool leather of her glove left a cool spot on her arm. It wasn't a hard decision but it was surreal to her that Akatsuki had come to her instead of her bribing them. They must have found her techniques to be valuable along with the fact she had the four-tailed beast. A few minutes of silence passed undisturbed and laden with a pivotal answer. Eventually she spoke with her answer.

"I accept the invitation," she said evenly.

Kisame nodded in relief clearly relieved that she would not end up being Zetsu chow. "I'll tell Leader-sama tomorrow and then we will make our way back to headquarters." He said simply

"I'll be ready whenever you are ready to depart…until then I'm going to take advantage of the accommodations," she said standing up.

That's when Itachi spoke for the first time since she had come into the room obviously he had been able to tell she had something on her mind and hadn't expressed it. "Keeping things to yourself that are obvious to see is unwise," he said his voice surprisingly soft yet with an underlying danger. "There is something on your mind," he concluded looking at her expectantly. "You were seeking us as well…why is that?"

She regarded him coolly before sitting down again. "Well you both obviously know I am in possession of the four tails," she said coolly tugging on her glove until it came off and she opened her palm to reveal a black circle with white markings of a seal over it "I was going to use it as leverage to get into your affiliation anyway. But its insignificant since you came to me and not the other way around" she said pointedly all he had in response was an indifferent nod.

Kisame apparently was not surprised by her plan in fact it was smart on her part and it made him crack a smirk of acceptance.

Sayuri stood up again and bowed respectfully to Kisame before giving her resignation that she was going to retire for the night. She was conscious of two sets of appraising eyes on her back as she left the room and closed the door. She was under the impression that Itachi was a very critical man, not that she wanted him to accept her, she could care less about what people thought of her as long as they knew she was not to be trifled with. But Itachi was a different caliber than even Kisame…there was something about him that she sometimes saw in herself.

But that was neither here nor there and as she turned off the lights and laid down on the bed the only thing she was aware of was the constant pulsing of her now once again gloved hand. And then there was nothing but a deep dreamless sleep.

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Yeah probably lame-ish for a first chapter and Itachi isn't the best but I will enjoy this and I hope you will too. Please Review and give me feedback so I can make it better.

Love ya cerulean.

P.S~ On my profile I have some reference pics of Sayuri if you wanted to volunteer to do some illistration


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